Archives for February 2017

Debra Bednar-Clark is the CEO and founder of DB+co, and the curator behind the popular style blog D+B Style. Her business today — a leadership coaching firm dedicated to helping leaders bring their whole self forward to achieve success with fulfillment — was formed from her own personal struggle. She was at the top of the tech world in her position as a global head of strategy and growth at Facebook, which came after time at Microsoft, McCann Erickson, Arnold Worldwide and Accenture. But she realized that in order to climb up the ladder, she’d left pieces of herself behind. She had success without achievement. So she decided to launch D+B Style as a hobby for her feminine, creative side, and began the slow transition to where she is today.

Here are her steps for leaving one career in order to start another, more fulfilling venture that incorporates all of your passions and talents.

Assess where you are.

If you’re thinking of going solo, changing careers, redefining your brand or switching industries, take a look at why you’re unhappy. Before you start to blame the market or your managers, look within.

“You start to externalize,” Bednar-Clark explained. “’It’s my manager that’s really frustrating. It’s this role, it’s this company.’Year after year, even though you’re succeeding, there’s always something missing, and for me it was a pattern. I needed to really understand the pattern over time.” The pattern, she realized, was in denying her passion for style, stifling her creative side, and thus leaving a key part of herself out of her life’s work.

“I wanted to find a day job that brought all these sides of who I am together. I [realized] I want to be in a position where I can align my skills, my interests, my talents and my passions — and that didn’t exist.”

So she began to brainstorm what her ideal work would look like. Once you see your pattern, she says, you then have to find the courage push through the discomfort and step into your true self and your true desires.

Explore where you want to go.

Once you dust off old passions or uncover new ones, start to explore how you can combine your past experiences and current knowledge with your new dream. You can start researching and testing your new ideas before you leave the stability of your salary.

While Bednar-Clark was still at Facebook, she created a — wait for it — Facebook Page for what would become her popular style blog. This allowed her to learn the platform for her job while also curating content and creating a community.

“It was a hobby in the beginning — curating things that I thought were lovely, inside the home, outside the home, at the office, what you wore. And it took off.”

Be patient.

It takes time, effort and consistency to grow your dream “side hustle” into something that can support you full-time. Prepare to put in the hours before and after work, for months or even years.

“I spent time in the evenings and weekends really building [the Facebook page]. I invested in Facebook ads, connecting more of the community and talking with external partners to see how I could grow the blog.”

As she did so, more and more women started to come to her for not just career coaching or style advice but for guidance that was really a blend of both.

Promote your past successes and results.

The traits and skills that made you excel in your career will also help you serve your prospective clients and customers — so make sure people know what they are. Do people in your industry or community know who you are and what you’ve done? Bednar-Clark explained that to make it in the tech world she had to not only perform well and meet expectations, but also make people aware of her impact.

“I really struggled with the humility of that. I thought, ‘Am I coming across as braggadocious?’ And what I started really understanding is that it wasn’t about me, it’s about the mission of the company . . . so I always say visibility begets opportunity.”

Tap your existing network.

This one seems obvious, but when you’re transitioning to a new industry, you may default to thinking you have to start from scratch and build an entirely new network. Bednar-Clark decided instead to reach out to existing colleagues and contacts that she respected, not to become clients, but for feedback about her new direction.

“I think seeing the value of the proposition, tapping into your network and asking for advice and seeing if there are opportunities there, was really important.”

Launch strategically.

Though you’re excited about your new venture, it may not make the most sense for you to immediately launch a press blitz or throw a grand opening party. Bednar-Clark, being risk-averse, transitioned her brand and services over time.

“I’m a big believer in seeding things along the way to see if they take off and grow. . . . When I first left Facebook, yes, I was focused on helping businesses adopt mobile and social strategies but inevitably I was also helping these stakeholders [empower] their talent,” she explained. “So when I went back to those organizations and those leaders to say, ‘Hey, I’ve evolved my business value proposition, I’m now focused on women’s leadership coaching,’ I had already proven myself within the context of a different role.”

When she wanted to get the word out about her consulting, she started with a simple, indirect Facebook post with her new logo, which started to create some buzz and interest. Later she did an official press release, which she said helped expose her services to new people, and those who only knew her in her past context.

Determine your definition of success.

If you want to build a business that encompasses all of your passions and interests, you may need to let go others’ expectations, and define what success really means for you.

“I think for a long time my success was based on what I thought I should be doing and that can be, for any woman or any person, influences from your family early on or society early on,” she shared. “Success without fulfillment for me isn’t success, and so I had to completely redefine what success meant for me.”

Stay focused.

Any article on taking the leap needs to remind aspiring entrepreneurs of a key factor — one that Bednar-Clark mentioned: Once you leave your department at a company, suddenly you are the departments, all the departments, and you make up the entire company. She was overwhelmed at first, but then she started to “ruthlessly prioritize.”

“To grow the business, I have to drive revenues. So, I’m going to prioritize [certain] products and services first.”

She also recommends that for solo success you keep your eye on the overall priority and philosophy.

“If you can make decisions that always align to the core of who you are, the core of your business, it’s going to keep you on track.”

Stay true to yourself.

Venturing out into new waters is always scary and filled with self-doubt. Bednar-Clark was an executive at a Fortune 500 company, and even she was nervous. Her advice? Rather than thinking about what you should do or the “right” way to launch and grow your new business, remember:

“You are your greatest asset. I love that quote, ‘No one is you and that is your power.’ If you can think about how do you take what makes you unique from your skills, your interests and and your passions and align that to the needs of the business, that’s when the magic happens.”

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Kelsey Humphreys

Kelsey Humphreys is a media entrepreneur, journalist and author on a mission to break down “success for the rest of us.” She is the author of the Amazon bestseller Go Solo. Catch interviews with today’s leaders…

When you first set out on your startup journey, it may seem that you’ve got the whole world to yourself. You’ve carved out a space where you can play, innovate and grow without the immediate pressure of competition.

But all that apparent freedom has a caveat: We’ve entered an age of looming tech giants and super brands that are seeking to acquire young-gun startups and take over the new arenas they’ve created.

Consider the example of the social giant, Facebook: In late 2016, Facebook unveiled its plans for a new professional communication tool, Workplace. This new feature functions much like its smaller-name counterpart, Slack, pairing Slack’s collaboration and chat capabilities with Facebook’s trademark ease of use.

The social media platform is also rumored to be encroaching on the travel industry, with online booking for transportation and hotels, indicating it may be trailing closely behind Google’s travel-booking features as well as Expedia.

Sure, Facebook is just one example, but situations like these are far from uncommon. Brands with big names will catch on to grassroots ideas and either create their own versions or offer these startups a buyout. In fact, the number of mergers and acquisitions today is twice what it was in the ’90s, and many startups are now founded with the express goal of being bought by a giant company.

But maybe that’s not your style. Maybe you want to become a great startup in your own right and step outside the tech giants’ shadows. That’s okay. If that’s the case, you’ll need to show your customers exactly what they would be missing without you and ensure that they’re still on your side, even in the face of those mammoth-like hunters out there. Here are three ways to do just that:

Related: 10 Ways Competition Can Improve Your Business

1. Stay flexible — rethink your scene.

One old-school strategy for rising above the competition is to focus on a specific niche. Startups usually have their specific audience in mind, but if a tech giant is creeping into your scene, simply redefine your space. For example, a pet supplies business facing fierce competition from a global brand might narrow its expertise to provide unrivaled high-end cat beds, securing itself a much smaller but less fickle group of customers.

Niche businesses’ time to shine is now, and they’re performing well in a “David vs. Goliath” business climate. According to a 2015 McKinsey Global Institute report, businesses in emerging and tech markets have singlehandedly slowed the unprecedented corporate profit growth.

Consider Bevel, a personal care company up against household names such as Gillette. By providing a simple, specialized service within the shaving industry — direct-to-consumer shaving supplies designed for African-American men — Bevel has garnered an audience in men with coarse and curly hair.

2. Remain close to your customers.

Giant brands have giant budgets, but they don’t necessarily have the relationship your startup has developed with its target audience. Use that closeness to your advantage. Get into your customer’s mind in a way giants can’t by using what you know to provide the perfect price point. Create options that account for small budgets, special occasion purchases, and luxury allowances.

According to research from thinkJar, a customer-strategy consultancy and think tank, 86 percent of consumers surveyed said they were willing to pay more for an upgraded experience. So, don’t lose out on that potential revenue — create pricing tiers that make your customers feel that they’ve found their perfect match.

3. Remember, great service isn’t enough anymore.

Stellar service is often a company’s backbone. It’s the reason people still love going to their local grocer or are happy to ditch Starbucks for their nearest independent coffee shop. In fact, according to an American Express survey, nearly 80 percent of consumers said they’d deserted a transaction because of a poor service experience.

But while great service isn’t everywhere you turn, it’s not difficult to find, either. You’ll need something more to keep the startup spirit working for you. One route is to listen carefully to customers’ wants and needs and adapt your product to perfectly fit their lifestyle. Rich Bergsund, CEO of Wine.com, did this when he introduced customer-chosen delivery hours to make it easier for customers to sign for and receive their purchases.

Related: 5 Ways Startups Can Beat Big Companies

Even when you’re up against the toughest competition, you don’t have to succumb to the buyout trend. You founded your organization for a reason: You’re bringing your audience value. Looming business giants might seem intimidating, but by harnessing your niche scene’s advantages, you can make your company look big businesses in the face and resist that takeover.

Tony Tie

Tony Tie is a “numbers-obsessed” marketer, life hacker and public speaker who has helped various Fortune 500 companies grow their online presence. Based in Toronto, he is currently the senior search marketer at Expedia Canada, t…

According to the Insights Team at Bing Ads “Search is literally breaking out of the box” as marketing is no longer just about the 4Ps anymore: Price, Product, Promotion and Placement. To explain this, the team put together an infographic (PDF) that highlights Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) vision for the future of search, the new 3Ps of marketing and how you can prepare your business for the change.

The Future of Search

According to the infographic, “search” will become more personal and predictive since people prefer personalized experiences. The team states that about 145 million people actively use the intelligent virtual assistant Cortana to store personal information, reminders and contacts among other things and as of now, the personal assistant has been asked over 17 billion plus questions since its launch.

The infographic further states that 75 percent of online customers get frustrated when content appears that has nothing to do with their experiences. And this simply means that accurate personal and predictive searches will get more popular in days to come. As a business, you should, therefore, start investing more in learning your customers’ needs other than reacting to their requests.

You should also consider investing in chatbots since 50 percent of customers would like to make a purchase via message.

Essentially, to be a successful business in the future you need to think of “search” throughout a customer’s journey, use the power of search data outside your campaigns as well as create personal experiences by leveraging targeting features such as demographic targeting and remarketing.

The next time you get an offer to choose an energy supplier, don’t be so quick to toss it. Throwing these offers away without taking a close look at them may be like receiving an envelope of money and tossing it because you don’t feel like going to the bank to make a deposit.

Sure. You’re busy growing your business. But don’t forget. Profit isn’t just increasing the money coming into your business. It’s reducing the money you shell out. But millions of small business owners don’t take advantage of this low-risk budgeting strategy.

This article will discuss the most common reasons small business owners don’t change energy suppliers. It will also share some tips on how to start exploring how you can reduce your energy budget to help decrease your overall monthly business expenses.

Fears That Keep Small Business Owners Stuck Paying Too Much for Energy

“I didn’t know I had a choice of energy suppliers.”

Not every state has the option for choosing an energy supplier. The electricity market started opening to competition in the late 1990s when the Federal Regulatory Commission issued order 888. That required utilities to provide open access nondiscriminatory transmission services to independent producers. There are 17 states (as of this writing) that offer a competitive energy market. So residents have a choice of gas and electricity suppliers for consumers and small businesses. That means that even if you’re a home-based business, you can take advantage by choosing an energy supplier and plan that best fits your needs.

The first thing to do is to see if your state is open to competition and what energy choices are available to you. The American Coalition of Competitive Energy Suppliers has an updated list of states and energy options.

(Source: Constellation Energy)

“I don’t want to give up what’s familiar and get hit with hidden charges to make up for the lower cost.”

There is a misconception that if you switch energy suppliers you are somehow giving up what you know for something that is unfamiliar and uncertain. In reality, the fact that you can choose an energy supplier gives you control by allowing you to compare rates.

Here are a couple of tips to help you avoid any minefields in the process:

To avoid any hidden charges, do your due diligence. Review the contract terms for any energy supplier before choosing. Here’s a helpful tip.

Make sure that the supplier can offer the term you desire to lock in the rates to avoid any surprises.

“Switching isn’t worth the hassle or the uncertainty.”

Assuming that you’re now open to the idea of switching, your next obstacle is wondering if it will be worth the effort. But you can see it at the end of each month. A plan that is a few pennies less may seem like small change, but when your monthly usage increases, you’ll notice a difference.

“If I switch and the power goes out, I’ll get no power and no customer service support.”

In short, this is a myth. Regardless of the supplier you select, your energy is delivered by your existing utility via the same established infrastructure; gas pipes, electrical lines, etc. When you switch, no one is going to come to your office and dig up one set of lines and replace it with another. When the power goes out, the utility handles getting it turned back on. If you have a question about the rate you’re paying or your enrollment, the supplier, like Constellation, would help you.

Your utility is responsible for providing the same level of service for all of their energy customers. Your local utilities maintain the delivery infrastructure, including wires, poles, transformers, and pipes regardless of which energy supplier you buy your energy supply from. And the energy supplier is responsible for the energy cost portion of your bill.

Like any company, some suppliers offer better customer support than others. When you shop around for a new energy supplier, look for things like the ability to reach them by phone, email and online chat, and bilingual support for Spanish-speaking customers.

Are You Ready to See if You Can Lower Your Energy Costs Now?

As a small business owner, the name of the game is to increase cash flow. Sure, you can increase revenues by getting more customers, but there’s something else you can do right away that’s 100 percent under your control. You can look for an energy plan that fits your business’ needs. In the past, the only way you could control your utility costs was to change your behavior and upgrade your equipment. Today, you also have the option of switching your energy supplier.

Switching your energy supplier offers a slew of benefits to your small business:

Control Your Costs. Energy competition increases choice and that means that suppliers have to compete for your business. This motivates them to keep costs competitive and the level of service high.

Predictable Budget. Today, energy suppliers offer a variety of plans designed to help small businesses manage and hold their costs in check using fixed-rate plans where you can lock in the rate for a set period of time.

Access to renewable energy options. If your business has made a commitment to explore renewable energy options, you’ll find that competing energy suppliers will have those options available, where your local utility may not.

Control. Of course, the biggest benefit is control. Now you can control your energy experience. The best way for energy suppliers to compete for your business is by increasing their quality of service, support and attention to their customers. This puts you in the driver’s seat like never before.

If you like the idea of increasing your cash flow by controlling your monthly energy costs but are still feeling overwhelmed by the alternatives, reach out to Constellation and open up the conversation. Remember, we want your business, and you’ll find that we have as much to gain as you do by helping you. For example, with Constellation you can check out the solutions for small business. And if you have questions, just click on the “Chat with Us” option in the menu, and we will walk you through the process.

Building a successful business isn’t just about home runs. It’s about small incremental improvements implemented on a regular basis. If growing the top line of your P&L has been slow and frustrating, maybe it’s time to put some focus on your bottom line.

You just spent five years developing the world’s first robotic drone cooler. It keeps your beverages frosty and follows you anywhere so you can get a cold one wherever and whenever you need one. It’s a monumental invention . . . but this cool little product isn’t going to fly without a strong brand.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time working on brand development with some amazing minds in the consumer electronics world. These innovators come from pedigree schools and have ideas that rival the big-boy electronics brands. Here’s the problem: The mindset that makes them capable of building ridiculous technologies is usually what makes them struggle when it’s time to build the brand that launches their innovation with consumers who don’t have advanced degrees in thermal dynamics.

Related: 7 Things Entrepreneurs Should Know about Outsourcing Development

Bottom line: When your tech startup is up against billion-dollar giants with corresponding marketing teams, even the most innovative products will fail if they don’t get packaged right. Here are three tips to ensure you launch a technology brand that can beat these odds.

1. Never lead with features and functionality.

We see it all the time. Tech startups want to lead with claims that their product is the fastest, lightest or smallest [fill in blank] ever to be introduced to the market. This approach makes sense because innovators are proud of what they have built. But, here’s the problem: Your product may not be the fastest, smallest or lightest for long, and hanging your brand on a feature makes you vulnerable to fast-followers looking to marginalize your brand.

Your product features should tee up the differentiating benefit you deliver to consumers. Tech startups dramatically increase their chances of winning when they lead with the benefit the product promises. The drone cooler may have seven times the thrust and cooling power of the competition, but what consumers care about is that it puts a cold one at their fingertips. It’s like having a friend who always brings you a beer. Features and functionality are not the headline to the story — they are the supporting messaging that makes it believable.

Related: How to Build a Great Startup Culture

2. Know that manufacturing timing can make or break your launch.

The product concept is finished, the prototypes have been made and you are ready to crowdfund or secure distribution and retail partners. But you haven’t started the manufacturing process — a process rife with obstacles, unforeseen situations and minor product issues that turn into months (or years) of delays.

Ensure your product is ready to go before you make promises that it will be delivered to your retailers or consumers. You only have one chance to launch, and your brand will be damaged if you can’t deliver on consumer expectations. We’ve seen countless brands make promises on various crowdfunding sites, only to spend months doing damage control with disappointed supporters. The crowd will turn against you if they trust you with their $59 and are left wondering if or when this drone cooler is ever going to arrive.

Related: 6 Ways Gen Z Will Change the Tech World

3. Focus your brand to align with a specific audience.

Tech startups begin by creating products that solve specific problems for specific types of end users, but often dilute their focus to appeal to the widest audience possible. This is a huge mistake. Brand traction requires you to focus your brand promise to a specific audience that is most likely to buy and evangelize your offering. Consumer electronics brands must tailor messaging and visuals to a specific audience so that they align to that culture.

Adopting a product requires an audience to see it and instantly understand “this is for people exactly like me.” Watering down your messaging and visuals puts you at risk for resonating with nobody. Moms and dads use coolers, but the robot drone cooler is probably built for an on-the-go party animal. That guy or gal isn’t looking for a cooler package with “Mom” on it. Don’t try to appeal to Mom and the guy you’d never introduce her to. It will be uncomfortable for everyone.

Don’t get in the way of your great idea. By following these three tips, you’ll not only have an amazing product in market, but a strong brand that will actually get it sold.

Geoff Cunningham

Geoff Cunningham is creative director of MicroArts, a modern brand-launch agency that delivers brand ubiquity for clients through PROVEN CREATIVE principles.

Last year, the Journal of Happiness Studies published research by Michael Minkov and Michael Harris Bond that claims happiness has a genetic component — some people are just programmed to be happier. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t turn a bad day around. Regardless of what your genes dictate, there are a few time-tested ways to improve your happiness.

Stop doing these ten things and you’ll be well on your way to a happier you.

1. Dwelling on the past

Focusing too much on past events doesn’t allow you to live in the present or strive for the future. You can’t change the past and focusing on something without a solution is sure to put you in a melancholy mood. It’s better to live in the present, and to channel your energies to what you can do as opposed to what you can’t.

2. Being complacent

It’s important to focus on what you have right now, but you can attain sustainable happiness by thinking about what you want in the future and setting the groundwork to get there. Whether it’s for something major like working toward a new job or as minor as starting a new hobby, expanding your skills could lead to new and exciting opportunities.

Related: 16 Tips for Living a Happy Life Starting Right Now

3. Spending hours on social media

Recent research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine concluded that social media usage and depression have a symbiotic relationship. Researchers cited what we all know about social media, but sometimes forget to acknowledge — people post the best versions of themselves online. This leads to envy, and envy leads to despair. Remember that everyone does things at his or her own pace. Turn off your screen and start living your own life, not vicariously through others.

4. Forgetting about JOMO

Social media causes FOMO — the fear of missing out. Instead, think about JOMO — the joy of missing out. Practice mindfulness, which is the mental state of being completely aware and engaged in the present. Being mindful opens you up to experiencing new things that you have otherwise overlooked — and, just as importantly, often blocks out unneeded distractions.

5. Overlooking small joys

Nice weather. A cute puppy running toward you. A really great run. There are 24 hours in a day, and during that time, something pleasant is bound to happen, if only for a minute. Show appreciation for the little things in life.

Related: How Happy Are Small-Business Owners? (Infographic)

6. Staying on the couch

Exercise has long been linked with happiness. When you exercise, your brain releases endorphins and monoamines. These brain chemicals help the body deal with pain, stress and certain mental disorders like anxiety. There’s a reason why “runner’s high” has become a household term: Exercising makes you feel better.

7. Letting unpleasant events affect your whole day

All too often, people subconsciously choose to be angry. Little things bother us, and we let that negative energy seep into our entire day. Unpleasant events happen to everyone. Choose which things truly matter to you, and let go of the things that don’t. If you spend less time dwelling on negative thoughts, you open yourself up to receiving happier ones.

8. Holding grudges

Grudges are associated with anger, hurt and negative feelings toward someone. While you can acknowledge you’ve been slighted, holding onto such overwhelming emotions does not promote happiness. Instead, try to forgive. Think about why you were hurt. Be empathetic toward the other person, and, if necessary, express your feelings. If all goes well, you’ll both have a deeper relationship and understanding of each other. If not, forgive anyway.

Related: 10 Troubling Habits of Unhappy People

9. Ignoring relationships

In today’s digitally driven world, making time for face-to-face connections is increasingly difficult. But for that reason, it’s increasingly necessary. Numerous research has proven that people with friends don’t just live more fulfilled lives — they also recover from illness more quickly, they have a lower risk of various diseases and they tend to think more positively because they know that they have people to support them.

10. Forgetting to make time for the things you love

What is your passion? Regardless of how silly, small or difficult, be sure to carve out time to pursue activities that bring you joy. Time is always of the essence in today’s world, but you’ll feel like a hamster running on a wheel if you don’t stop for a moment to foster the things that you truly love.

More often than not, happiness is a choice. Hopefully, it’s not a hard one to make. It’s about taking the time to think about what truly matters and making sure you follow through on whatever that may be.

Jennifer Cohen

Jennifer is the CEO and founder of No Gym Required, a company that helps individuals and organizations create simple strategies to increase their productivity and success through health and wellness. She is also the author of both Best…

Whatsapp is on the move again. The platform recently followed Instagram in cloning one of rival Snapchat’s more popular features.

WhatsApp is a social messaging service that was acquired by Facebook for a whopping $19 billion in 2014. As of April 2016, more than a billion people were already using the instant messaging service around the world. And over 70 percent of them use the app to communicate on a daily basis.

In August 2016, Facebook changed its privacy policies to allow businesses to send messages to WhatsApp users, and this, of course, opened up a new marketing platform for small businesses as well. So, how can you tap into this marketing opportunity?

How to Get Started on Whatsapp

Download the App

You first have to download the app. You can search for the app on Google or Apple store or if you would like to use it on your Mac or Windows PC just head to Whatsapp.com and click the Download tab.

Scan the QR Code

Once it has finished installing, the app will open in a separate window. You will then be prompted to use WhatsApp on your phone to scan this QR code.

Open WhatsApp on your phone, go to Chats and then click the three dots on the right-hand side of your screen. Click “WhatsApp Web” and you will be taken to this Window:

Click the + sign on the top right and scan the code on your PC. You will immediately be signed into your WhatsApp account.

However, you can also still access WhatsApp on your PC without downloading the app by going to web.whatsapp.com and follow the same procedure as above.

With a striking resemblance to Snapchat’s Stories feature, WhatsApp’s recent update allows you to post videos, photos and GIF images that are only visible to your contacts for 24 hours.

The recent update coupled with the number of users already on the app provide small businesses with an opportunity to engage with their customers in a fast, efficient and cost effective manner.

You could also use the app for internal team communication, to offer customer support and for marketing and promotion of products.

Have you ever been so infuriated by a company’s customer service that you broke your phone? On the other hand, how incredible is it when a company has fantastic customer service?

While the Comcasts and Verizons of the world might be able to get away with treating their customers like indentured servants, serving customers well is essential for the vast majority of companies. In fact, as many as 66 percent of customers will spend more with a company with great customer service.

To illustrate this point, visual communication and design agency Column Five created an infographic for customer service software company Zendesk called “Convert With Convenience: Good Customer Service is Good Business.”

Ways to Improve Your Customer Service

Go mobile. Customers using a mobile app are more likely to make a purchase, with 85 percent inclined to make same-day purchases and 70 percent ready to purchase within hours.

Have self-service options. 70 percent of customers expect companies to have features like FAQs, contact information, product comparison, and personal account controls.

Offer live chat support. By helping customers immediately, live chat increases sales as well as average order size.

Be responsive on social media. 72 percent of customers tweet when they have a complaint, 53 percent expect a response within an hour, and 71 percent are more likely to recommend a brand after getting a response.

Moral of the story? The better the customer service, the more successful the business.

Check out the infographic for more information on improving your company’s customer service!

If you are looking for a franchise to invest in, there are a lot of different criteria to choose from. One of the ways you can compare franchises is by looking at which are currently growing the fastest.

RELATED: TOP NEW FRANCHISES TO INVEST IN

Many of these franchises are quickly spreading across the country, and this is due to a lot of reasons, including their unique products, growing brand recognition and smart development plans. Similar to past years, the fastest growing franchise types this year were the following:

Restaurant Concepts

Fitness Centers

Beauty Salons

For restaurants specifically, the fastest growing franchises in America typically include those that specialize in sandwiches, coffee and frozen yogurt. When looking for your next investment, don’t forget to take a look at the fastest growing franchises. There’s a reason why these companies are sweeping across the country.

Smartphone ownership has grown from about 30 percent in 2011 to nearly 80 percent in 2016.

The majority of millennial smartphone users, 87 percent, say their phone never leaves their side, day or night.

Thirty-seven percent of workers telecommute regularly.

More than half, we’re talking 68 percent, of business emails are now opened on smartphones.

Related: Digital Transformation to Weave Engaging Customer Experience

These stats lead to the top five reasons you need business mobility today.

1. Accessibility.

As a sales executive, I am a case study for the mobile professional. I live in Greater Cincinnati and work out of a remote office for a company headquartered in Huntsville, Ala. I travel all the time for business. When a customer or coworker is trying to reach me, I could be sitting in my Huntsville office, working from my home office in Cincinnati, driving a rental car on the way to an appointment, working from a hotel room or sitting in a Starbucks between sales calls.

Gone are the days where you had to inform people where you would be and expect them to dial the right phone number. Unified communications (UC) technology allows us to effectively put our desk phone in our pocket by running it as an application on Android and IOS devices. The full power of your business phone system is now readily available to the mobile user.

2. Full-featured business experience.

Prior to full-featured fixed mobile convergence — the ability to seamlessly converge several devices together — many workers would simply forward their business phone number to their mobile phone. The call was delivered to your mobile device but in a manner that stripped it of the powerful call handling features associated with modern UC systems. Using UC mobility applications now allow the user to have powerful business features like status indication, presence information, directory lookup, call monitoring, call logging and more, all available on a mobile phone.

Related: The Future of Work: Risk and Reward In The Mobile Workplace

3. Accountability.

One of the big problems that existed when people began using personal mobile devices for business was the lack of accountability. As the executive in charge of sales for my company, we track call volume, call length, wrap-up time and other call center type statistics closely. When businesses allow some calls to go “off system” to a mobile device, tracking and accountability goes to the wayside and it becomes very difficult to aggregate desk phone usage and mobile usage into meaningful reports for the business.

By simply running a business phone application on the mobile device and enforcing a business usage protocol, saying all business calls are made from the application as opposed to the native cellular interface, all call records are now available to the business manager for reporting and training purposes.

4. Protecting your mobile number.

On January 1, in France, a new law took effect requiring businesses with 50 employees or more to negotiate after-hours email rules. Benoit Hamon, a member of French Parliament, told the BBC in May when the measure was introduced, “employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash, like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails — they colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down.”

Increasingly, the lines between work and personal life are blurring and sometimes that can also mean giving up privacy. Historically, we used a business desk phone when we were in the office and a mobile phone when out of the office. With Caller ID, once you make a call to an employee or customer, they have your personal mobile number, and you are now on the hook for direct calls. By running the softphone application on your phone, customers reach you on your mobile device using your standard business number, and when you call customers or business associates from your mobile device, they see only your business phone number, as opposed to your personal mobile phone number. You now have the ability to use your personal phone in a work application without publishing your mobile number to the world, allowing you to have a level of separation between work and personal communication, and preserve your privacy.

Related: 4 Ways Personal Technology Outperforms Enterprise Software

5. Call transition support.

Using fixed mobile convergence technology, an employee has the ability to effectively converge several devices together in a manner that becomes invisible to the customer. For example, an employee might take an unexpected, but important, business call from a customer at 4:30 p.m. in the office. That person needs to leave the office at 4:45 to pick up a child from soccer practice. In the past, the conversation went like this: “Sorry to do this to you but, I need to leave the office so, can I call you back in five minutes from the car?” This is not only disruptive to the customer, but when you call them back, they now have your mobile number (see previous point).

In a fixed mobile convergence world, you can take the call in the office, then press a button on the desk phone to seamlessly transfer the call to your mobile application. The customer never knows the transfer happened. When you arrive home after picking up your child from soccer, you press a button on the mobile app and again seamlessly transfer the call to your home line without the customer ever knowing. It’s a beautiful thing.

As VP of worldwide sales and service for a telecommunications solution provider, I am an aggressive user of fixed mobile convergence technology. It has truly transformed my ability to interact seamlessly with customers and employees in a full-featured and professional manner, no matter where I am.

Steve Harvey

Steve joined Digium in February 2007 and was initially responsible for driving Digium revenue through worldwide channel development, strategic OEM and Business Development. As Digium has migrated toward a higher mix of cloud based Uni…